Archive for the 'IDN' Category

New gTLD ‘.organic’ launched in August and is now in General Availability. Domains are registered first come, first served. The .organic extension is expected to do extremely well in terms of registration numbers so if you’re interested in securing a .organic domain name, the sooner the better.

New “GEO” TLDs .eus (the top-level domain for Basque, a region located at the western end of the Pyrenees) and .gal (the top-level domain for Galicia, a community in northwest Spain) are now in Trademark Sunrise. Registering ‘geo’ domains is such a great way to enhance the credibility (reputation) of your business in specific regions (cities, countries, etc.).

TM Sunrise (as well as Landrush) for .eus and .gal will remain open though November 18, 2014, and General Availability will open on December 2, 2014. Because TM Sunrise and Landrush are open concurrently, registrations will be processed as follows:

Domains that are applied for between September 16 – November 18, 2014 and have an smd file will be treated as a TM Sunrise application.

Domains that are applied for during this period and do not have an smd file will be processed as a Landrush application.

During General Availability domains will be registered on a first come, first served basis unless the name is blocked or reserved by the registry.

Google recently released some interesting news. As part of their effort to promote improved online security they announced that ‘HTTPS’ sites (meaning, sites that have added a SSL 2048-bit key certificate) will see a rank increase.While ‘high-quality content’ is still the best way to rank high, competition is vast and stiff so every little bit helps. Google says that currently, the ‘SSL’ benefit is a “very lightweight signal,” but they “may decide to strengthen” the signal to incentivize business/site owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS because this small change will help keep businesses safe online.

There are a number of benefits associated with leveraging SSL certificates for your website, not the least of which is that they can help increase SEO rankings, which means more web traffic, more opportunities, and increased revenue. But will going ‘HTTPS’ impact your SEO efforts —should you be concerned? Not so much. Google has claimed for years that going ‘HTTPS’ is not a major issue for SEO. That’s not to say you can make this switch and that everything will fall into place on its own. You will need to follow protocol and take the appropriate steps to ensure that your site traffic doesn’t suffer. For example, be sure to let Google know that you’ve moved your site from HTTP to HTTPS. Google says it will provide more documentation going forward, but until then, here are a few tips:

Decide what kind of certificate you need for your business/site (single, multi-domain, or wildcard)

Use 2048-bit key certificates

Use relative URLs for resources that reside on the same secure domain

Use protocol relative URLs for all other domains

Check out Google’s site move article for more guidelines on how to change your site’s address

TM Sunrise has launched for another New Donuts gTLDs (.healthcare). Five more New gTLDs will enter TM Sunrise between August 26 and September 9, 2014, respectively. The TM Sunrise period is specifically for trademark holders to register domains that are the exact match (e.g., trademarkname.TLD) to the existing corresponding trademark(s). If you want to protect your brand(s) within specific markets, registering additional domains (specifically new gTLDs), is the best way to optimize your naming strategy.

Trademark Sunrise for .healthcare:: Now open and will remain open through October 11, 2014

Trademark Sunrise for .pizza :: Scheduled to open August 26, 2014 and remain open through October 25, 2014

Trademark Sunrise for .restaurant, .gifts, and .sarl :: Scheduled to open September 2, 2014 and remain open through November 1, 2014

Trademark Sunrise for .immo :: Scheduled to open September 9, 2014 and remain open through November 1, 2014

It’s important to note that only trademark holders who have received a valid signed mark data (SMD) file issued by the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) may apply for an exact match domain name during the Sunrise period for any new gTLD(s). If you have any questions about this launch, please contact your Safenames account manager. You may also contact us in the UK at +44 1908 200022 (emeasales@safenames.net) or in the US at +1 703 574 5313 (nasales@safenames.net).

Donuts has launched TM Sunrise for a number of New gTLDs. The TM Sunrise period is specifically for trademark holders to register domains that are the exact match (e.g., trademarkname.TLD) to the existing corresponding trademark(s). If you want to protect your brand(s) within specific markets, registering additional domains (specifically new gTLDs), is the best way to optimize your naming strategy.

TM Sunrise for .furniture, .discount, .fitness, and .schule:: Now open through August 16, 2014

TM Sunrise for .gratis, .claims, .credit, and .creditcard :: Now open through August 23, 2014

TM Sunrise for .digital, .accountants, .finance, and .insure :: Now open through August 27, 2014

TM Sunrise for .loans, .life, .guide and .church:: Now open through September 6, 2014

TM Sunrise for .direct and .place :: Now open through September 13, 2014

TM Sunrise for .deals :: Now open through September 20, 2014

TM Sunrise for .city :: Now open through September 27, 2014

It’s important to note that only trademark holders who have received a valid signed mark data (SMD) file issued by the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) may apply for an exact match domain name during the Sunrise period for any new gTLD(s). If you have any questions about the launch of these or any other new Donuts gTLDs, please contact your Safenames account manager. You may also contact us in the UK at +44 1908 200022 (emeasales@safenames.net) or in the US at +1 703 574 5313 (nasales@safenames.net).

New “GEO” gTDL .Bayern is now in TM Sunrise. Geo TLDs are meant to enable businesses, organizations, and individuals who are doing business in a particular city/region, or planning to in the future, to establish an online naming presence by registering shorter, more relevant domains that represent their business within a specific local geographic community–much like how .EU, .ASIA, etc. (ccTLDs) are used to denote a country or region. Registering additional domains (specifically new gTLDs) is one of the best ways to optimize your naming strategy and protect your brand(s) within specific markets.

TM Sunrise for .BEYERN will remain open through September 2, 2014 and the rest of the schedule is as follows:

Phase 2—Landrush :: Scheduled to open July 1, 2014 and remain open through September 2, 2014.

Phase 3—General Availability :: Scheduled to open September 30, 2014.

Only trademark holders who have received a valid signed mark data (SMD) file issued by the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) may apply for an exact match domain name during the Sunrise period for any new gTLD(s). If you have any questions about this launch please contact your Safenames account manager. You may also contact us in the UK at +44 1908 200022 (emeasales@safenames.net) or in the US at +1 703 574 5313 (nasales@safenames.net).